The NYPD fired a Staten Island detective after investigators found he had improper relationships with five women, including three he arrested, and then lied about it during an internal affairs interview, according to a police disciplinary trial decision.
Police Officer Brooks Ingram pleaded guilty to 10 of 13 charges against him and was found guilty of the remaining three, including making false statements and criminal association, records show. His dismissal was effective Nov. 21 and posted online New Years Day.
"[He] appeared to view his work as an opportunity to meet potential dates," Assistant Deputy Commissioner Anne E. Stone wrote in recommending his termination. "His conduct and attempts to manipulate the truth illustrate a stunning lack of judgment."
Department rules forbid officers from having personal relationships with individuals who have committed crimes or were witnesses to crimes they investigated.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch approved the recommendation. The detective’s union did not return requests for comment.
Ingram’s attorney called the prosecution a “rubber stamp” and “unjust,” saying that the department overcharged Ingram by accusing him of lying to investigators.
“He corrected the record during the same interview. There was never any false statement,” the attorney, Roger Blank, said in an interview. “The investigators didn't have to do extra work. They weren't sent on a wild goose chase.”
The Internal Affairs Bureau investigation began in January 2023, when a woman being debriefed after her arrest pointed at Ingram and told officers he was dating her mother and "did things for her," according to the trial decision.
Investigators found Ingram had been in a sexual relationship with the woman's mother since pulling her over for a traffic stop around 2017. She had been arrested 14 times for felonies and 14 times for misdemeanors, prosecutors said.
Investigators also found Ingram had sexual relationships with two other women after arresting them. One was a childhood acquaintance he arrested on a charge of aggravated harassment in February 2022. Another was a high school classmate he arrested on a charge of domestic assault in December 2022. After her arrest, he called her 24 times and exchanged dozens of texts, according to records cited in the trial decision. He also ran police database searches on a Bronx case where she was a victim and shared the information with her, the trial decision states.
Two other women were witnesses in cases Ingram investigated. One told investigators he showed up at her home intoxicated and tried to kiss her, which he denied, according to the trial record. Another was a housing manager with whom Ingram exchanged more than 3,200 text messages, it states. He admitted using the relationship to get easy access to the housing complex and surveillance footage, according to the trial decision.
When questioned by the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau in June 2023, Ingram initially denied having any personal relationship with the first woman, calling it "professional," the decision states. He only admitted to an intimate relationship after investigators pressed him to "stop beating around the bush," it states.
Investigators also found Ingram made 20 unauthorized searches in police databases and provided the information to the women he slept with, according to the decision. After following Ingram, police saw him drive his pickup truck without license plates through red lights while cutting off other drivers, evaded a toll on the Verrazano Bridge, and lived within his own precinct in violation of department rules, the decision states
The NYPD declined to comment beyond the trial decision.
Ingram joined the NYPD in January 2017 and had received two medals for meritorious duty. He had no prior disciplinary history. He was demoted from detective in December 2024.
